Operation Checkmate
by CSPhantomFury
Summary: After Okabe's failed attempts to save Makise Kurisu, he finds himself falling into a deep depression. He continues with his life as a university student and a test subject for the Amadeus project. Just as Okabe thought he had escaped the horrors of what jumping from worldline to worldline and his D-Mail had brought him, he finds himself in bigger danger than ever before.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: This story takes place during the events of Steins;Gate 0 and some parts have been changed in which it is not entirely canon.**

 _Chapter One - Dear Hearts and Gentle People_

 _Divergence: 1.129848%_

 _11/23/2010_

Okabe had just joined an after party for Professor Leskinen's speech on his Amadeus project. Among all the people there, he stood out like a sore thumb. Everyone was wearing formal attire while Okabe was dressed in all black. His suit jacket, his dress shirt, his pants, his shoes. All black. He felt uneasy and out of place. He was beginning to get bored. He was so bored, in fact, that he voiced his thoughts loud enough to where a small Hiyajo Maho could hear. She greeted Okabe with sympathetic agreement.

"Oh, it's you." Said Okabe, greeting Maho. Maho and him had only met briefly. All he knew was she was Professor Leskinen's assistant and that she looked like a middle school student rather than a scientist. Okabe noticed that Maho was wearing the exact same outfit she had been wearing during the lecture. Okabe thought to himself, ' _A lab coat at a event like this? It almost reminds me of my old self.'_ Okabe then noticed Maho studying him, as if she knew something about him but couldn't remember.

"Let's see..you're..."

Maho tried to think of Okabe's name but was interrupted by the tall, slender man in front of her.

"Why are you wearing a lab coat?" She looked completely out of place to Okabe. He couldn't help but ask.

"I-I was sure I'd brought actual clothes!" Maho said, seeming quite embarrassed.

"Hey." Maho then changed the subject. "You're that guy who was at the desk this afternoon."

"I'm Rintaro Okabe. I'm a student at Tokyo Denki University. I'm also in Professor Leskinen's class."

Okabe fumbled through his pockets, trying to find a business card he had made after the Professor said he needed them. Maho too had her business cards on hand and carelessly set one in his hands.

"My name's pretty rare, huh?"

"Oh...uh, yeah. You said nobody could read it, right?" Okabe looked down at Maho's card and saw the that pronunciation of her name was printed in unusually large letters. It was probably because of the many times people had screwed up trying to pronounce her name. Maho grabbed a handful of food and began eating as she said, "It's pretty common in Okinawa, though."

"You're from Okinawa?"

"My great-grandparents were immigrants. I was born and raised in America."

"Half...no, you don't look Japanese. Quarter-Japanese?"

"Nope. My parents and grandparents were all Japanese. My DNA is purely Japanese."

"Huh?" Okabe was struggling to make sense of what Maho explained to him. ' _She's 100% Japanese yet looks nothing like it. That doesn't make any damn sense.'_ He soon realized he was thinking to hard about, as if it was important to him. The conversation stopped and both Okabe and Maho were consumed in a strong aura of awkwardness. Many moments passed and Maho brought up the lecture in a new conversation, asking if Okabe was the one who asked a question during it. It wasn't long until the two were engrossed in scientific talk.

"If you send the pseudopulse you copied along with them to the frontal lobes, the memory search signal will function properly, I believe." Okabe and Maho were discussing the Amadues project, an A.I. program that learns on it's own. And the person behind the screen during the lecture was Makise Kurisu. The girl Okabe desperately tried to save but couldn't. When he first saw Amadeus, his entire body froze. Multiple emotions fled through his mind during the lecture. He found out that Maho and Kurisu were actually good friends before she died. They were partners under Leskinen's watch.

"My brave third Einstein!" Their conversation was halted when Professor Leskinen's walked over to them.

"Wha-?!" Okabe cried out, startled by the Professor. Leskinen was wearing a brown blazer along with brown slacks. His dress shirt was beige and he lacked a tie. He had slicked back blonde hair and spoke cheerfully. He grabbed Okabe's hand and the handshake he gave to him was incredibly forceful. They were like bear paws.

Okabe soon realized he was speaking Japanese, although he spoke english throughout his lecture. Leskinen looked dead on into Okabe's eyes. He looked angry while wearing a smile. "Still, I don't approve of you making my assistant cry." Before he came over, Okabe and Maho talked about Kurisu and her work, which triggered Maho's emotions and made her cry.

"What?! No! I didn't-!"

"No, professor!" Exclaimed Maho, defending Okabe. "It wasn't his fault! He had nothing to do with it!"

Both tried to deny it the best they could. Okabe tried thinking of an excuse.

"Basically...um.."

"Kurisu." Said Maho. "I was talking about Kurisu and I just started crying..."

The professor was somewhat confused at first.

"Kurisu? You're a friend of Kurisu?"

"Um...yes."

Maho then introduced Okabe.

"This is Rintaro Okabe. He's a student."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2 - Absolute Zero_

 _Divergence: 1.129848%_

 _8/22/2010_

It had happened in July. His second attempt to save Kurisu had failed yet again. But didn't have the will to try to save her once more. He had witnessed Mayuri's death way too many times. Endlessly going back in time trying to save her. He finally realized that for her to live, Kurisu had to die. But Suzuha had explained the Attractor Field, a point in time where all worldlines collide on one single worldline. Okabe knew it as Stein's Gate. When going back to the present with Suzuha, a girl from the future and had helped fight a resistance against SERN with the help of future Okabe, he had no energy. He had nothing to motivate him. He wanted it all to stop.

"They're back!" exclaimed Daru. He was Okabe's right hand man and a brilliant hacker. He even hacked into SERN's database. Next to him was Mayuri Shiina, Okabe's good childhood friend. The two watched Suzuha's time machine fade into existence. They then ran to the door of the huge satellite-shaped object as it opened, revealing Suzuha aiding Okabe out of it. His lab coat was covered in blood. The blood of Makise Kurisu. He had no emotion. His face was blank and he was extremely pale.

"Okabe, that blood.." Daru looked, shocked.

"It's all right. It isn't his." Said Suzuha, reassuring Daru.

Okabe faintly let out words using what will he had left.

"I was the one who killed Kurisu." He collapsed onto the ground between the three others. He sounded even weaker when he repeated himself. "I was the one who killed Kurisu." His eyes welled up with tears of pain and torture. He repeated himself several times. Mayuri kneeled down beside him to try to comfort him. Suzuha boldly explained that he mustn't give up.

"I know it hurts, but you can't give up yet. We have enough fuel to go bsck one more time."

"Shut up!" yelled Okabe. "Nothing will change! The Attractor Field Convergence will kill her over again!" He was still on his hands and knees speaking to the ground as anger and sadness began to boil inside him.

"All...All of it. It's my fault." He silently wept.

"5.7 billion lives hang in the balance!" Suzuha had become almost annoyed that Okabe, than man she knew in the future was fearless and had declared war on SERN, was crying on the ground before her.

"You have to save Makise Kurisu and change the World Line!"

There was a small length of silence before Okabe muttered, "It's impossible."

"Why? It's just one failure!" Suzuha was basically yelling in his ear as she crouched beside him.

"Just one? Don't give me that bullshit! Just how many times do you think I failed?! Just how many dozens of times do you think I failed?! I know how this will go! And how absurd this whole thing is! I'm well aware of the cruel ending that awaits!" After his loud rant to Suzuha, Okabe slowly stood up. He wobbled all the way to his feet.

"I knew..." He said. "I knew this would happen. I'm tired now. I'm so tired..." Okabe stumbled off but not before an angry Suzuha stopped him in his tracks.

"If that's how you want to be, I guess I'll have to slap some sense into you." Suzuha raised her hand, about to slap him when Mayuri jumped between the two while yelling for her to stop.

"Stop!" There was a long pause. Mayuri then spoke in a trembling voice. "You shouldn't force him." Okabe once again fell onto his bottom and began to cry even more. Mayuri got on her knees and wrapped Okabe in her arms. She felt him shaking.

"But there's no way he can change the future like this!" Exclaimed Suzuha yet again.

"Why? Why are you making Okabe shoulder the future by himself? That's too big a burden." Mayuri spoke in a calm and consoling voice towards Suzuha in which she replied, "Okabe is the only one who can observe the world lines."

Mayuri still had her arms grasped tightly around the weeping Okabe.

"Okabe never asked for that." She said. "And even if you try one more time, he'll just get hurt again. Thinking one person alone can change the future...that just isn't possible."

As he wept, Okabe kept muttering Kurisu's name. "Kuri...su Kurisu... Kuri..."

Mayuri then began to run her fingers through his hair to try to comfort him a little more.

"Okabe," she softly whispered into his ear. "You dont have to struggle anymore. It's ok to cry, Okabe. Mayushii is here with you."


End file.
